Microsoft to shut down its chat services!
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2003 12:29 pm
Microsoft's MSN to shut down, limit U.S. Internet chat
Source: Associated Press
Publication date: 2003-09-23
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft is shutting down Internet chat services in most of its markets around the world and limiting the service in the United States.
The company said the changes should help reduce criminal solicitations of children through online discussions. A business analyst said they also would enable Microsoft to shed some free users who are a drag on profits.
The changes will take effect Oct. 14, Microsoft said Tuesday in an announcement by its London office. Microsoft will post the changes on its Web site, MSN spokeswoman Lisa Gurry said.
In most of its 34 markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia, Microsoft MSN has chosen to simply shut down the service, the Redmond, Wash.-based software company said. However, MSN will continue to offer chat services to users in the United States, Canada, Japan and Brazil.
Eliminating and curtailing the service will help curb inappropriate uses, Gurry said, including pornographic spam as well as pedophiles or other sexual predators.
Microsoft officials refused to say how many people use its chat service. The company has about 8.6 million subscribers for its Internet service.
In the United States, MSN will require users of its chat service to subscribe to at least one other paid MSN service. That way, the company will have credit card numbers to make it easier to track users who violate MSN's terms of use. The sessions will not be moderated, Microsoft said.
In Canada and Japan, the company will offer some moderated chat rooms. Users can also subscribe to an unmoderated service. MSN will offer some moderated chat discussions in New Zealand and Brazil.
The move may help MSN trim the number of free users and help boost its overall revenue, said Rob Helm, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm.
``I think this change will have welcome side effects, like keeping spammers out of the chat rooms,'' he said. ``But fundamentally I believe this is a move to make MSN more profitable. It will allow the company to get rid of some infrastructure that was supporting chat, and to make more money on what it leaves in place.''
Craziness!
Source: Associated Press
Publication date: 2003-09-23
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft is shutting down Internet chat services in most of its markets around the world and limiting the service in the United States.
The company said the changes should help reduce criminal solicitations of children through online discussions. A business analyst said they also would enable Microsoft to shed some free users who are a drag on profits.
The changes will take effect Oct. 14, Microsoft said Tuesday in an announcement by its London office. Microsoft will post the changes on its Web site, MSN spokeswoman Lisa Gurry said.
In most of its 34 markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia, Microsoft MSN has chosen to simply shut down the service, the Redmond, Wash.-based software company said. However, MSN will continue to offer chat services to users in the United States, Canada, Japan and Brazil.
Eliminating and curtailing the service will help curb inappropriate uses, Gurry said, including pornographic spam as well as pedophiles or other sexual predators.
Microsoft officials refused to say how many people use its chat service. The company has about 8.6 million subscribers for its Internet service.
In the United States, MSN will require users of its chat service to subscribe to at least one other paid MSN service. That way, the company will have credit card numbers to make it easier to track users who violate MSN's terms of use. The sessions will not be moderated, Microsoft said.
In Canada and Japan, the company will offer some moderated chat rooms. Users can also subscribe to an unmoderated service. MSN will offer some moderated chat discussions in New Zealand and Brazil.
The move may help MSN trim the number of free users and help boost its overall revenue, said Rob Helm, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm.
``I think this change will have welcome side effects, like keeping spammers out of the chat rooms,'' he said. ``But fundamentally I believe this is a move to make MSN more profitable. It will allow the company to get rid of some infrastructure that was supporting chat, and to make more money on what it leaves in place.''
Craziness!